Bourdais Tops Red Flag-Filled Opening Road America Practice

Photo: Rick Dole/IMSA

Sebastien Bourdais was quickest in an accident-filled opening IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice session at Road America, which saw a total of five red flags.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver reeled off a best lap of 1:49.538 in his No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R to outpace Pipo Derani in the similarly prepared No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac by 0.054 seconds.

Augusto Farfus was third quickest in the No. 24 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8, while the debuting No. 59 Proton Competition Porsche 963 completed a total of 26 laps with the 10th quickest time in the GTP class and overall.

The 90-minute session was marred by multiple incidents, including separate crashes for Giedo van der Garde, Mathieu Jaminet and Misha Goikhberg.

Van der Garde crashed his No. 35 TDS Racing Oreca 07 Gibson in the Carousel early on, which was followed by a second red for debris from an incident by Jaminet in the No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 that resulted in nose damage.

The No. 78 Forte Racing by US RaceTronics Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Goikhberg, meanwhile, sustained heavy damage from a crash at the Kink, while a fourth red came out for debris in Turn 12.

It was followed by a spin by the No. 92 Kellymoss by Riley Porsche 911 GT3 R of David Brule, who skidded through the Turn 3 gravel trap and into the barriers.

LMP2 was led by the No. 11 TDS Oreca of Mikkel Jensen while Garett Grist was quickest in LMP3 in his No. 30 Jr III Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan.

Seb Priaulx topped the time charts in the GT ranks, with his GTD class No. 80 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R going quickest in the closing stages, thanks to a 2:05.126 lap time.

It was 0.080 seconds quicker than the GTD Pro class pace-setting No. 23 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Alex Riberas.

The second and final practice session of the day is on tap for 3:15 p.m. CDT.

RESULTS: Practice 1

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John